Harvard Scammed by 23-Year Old

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mod (Andy) note: "Blast from the past - Best of Eddie" - This one is originally from May 2010. If there's an old post from Eddie you'd like to see up again shoot me a message.

You'd think creativity would count for something. Adam Wheeler, a 23-year old from Delaware, is being charged with larceny, identity theft, and fraud after faking his way into Harvard and taking the school for $45,000 in scholarships, grants, and financial aid. Step aside Jeffrey Chiang. Take a seat Aleksey Vayner. There's a new kid in the bullshitter's Cooperstown.

Wheeler didn't take any half-steps in his scam, either. He not only claimed to have earned a perfect academic record at Phillips Academy to gain admission to Harvard in 2007, he backed up the claim with a falsified transcript from MIT. He might have gotten away with it too, if he hadn't pushed the envelope by later applying for Rhodes and Fulbright scholarships.

"This defendant's actions cheated those who competed honestly and fairly for admissions and for the scholarships that this defendant fraudulently obtained," Leone said.

This kid falsified everything down to his place of employment and a recommendation from a fellow "employee". In a final ironic twist, he actually did attend Bowdoin College for two years before being thrown out for "academic dishonesty". No word on whether Harvard admissions is going to take their job a little more seriously after this.

You see, kids? Dreams really can come true if you want it bad enough and reach for the stars! I wouldn't be surprised to see a bidding war break out between Moody's and Standard and Poor's to hire this kid. He's definitely cut out to run a desk at a ratings agency.

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Way to go Kid...except for getting caught. This is a great proxy for capitalism and the same thing that happens on Wall Street every single day. Once the payoff is big enough, capitalism asserts that people will compete for that prize and a portion of the population will stretch to unethical or illegal ways to get the reward.

Professional sports is another example. My dad always says "there were no steroids in my day". And I always reply that there was no payoff since everyone made about $50,000 and there we no huge yearly salaries. Once we reached the multi-million dollar a year deals, the cheating began.

This is capitalism at its best...and worst

Peace Out

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The Four E's of investment
"The greatest Enemies of the Equity investor are Expenses and Emotions."- Warren Buffet

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"...the art of good business, is being a good middle man, putting people togeather. It's all about honor and respect."

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